Customizing a smart card or “microcontroller card” consists in loading data such as applications and parameters thereof, and in diversifying the contents of each smart card depending on its final user. Such customization involves, inter alia, downloading secret data, such as authentication keys, and personal data, such as a name or an identity number.
Smart card customization is executed by a customization machine in the factory that manufactures the cards, and it is subjected to time constraints that affect that cost of manufacturing a smart card. Currently, customizing a smart card requires a few seconds. If the customization requires a longer processing time, the price of the smart card increases.
Since smart card customization is becoming increasingly complex and since the number of applications to be implemented in smart cards is growing, the cost of producing each smart card is becoming increasingly high.